Sailor Moon: Redeux
by Pyro Darquarius
Summary: The first of six planned stories that will novelize the entire series of Sailor Moon from episode one to episode two hundred and then beyond! Please Read and Review!
1. The End of The Beginning

AUTHORS NOTE:

I decided to write this story, a novelized version of the Sailor Moon series, recently. I've been a fan of the series since it's debut in America back in 1995. However, I despised how the censors and critics down played the series, changing characters and lines to make it more "suitable" for younger children. So, for years, I wrote fan fictions, usually centered around an original character of my own design, and made the series a little more… risqué.

Well, one day, while discussing the series with some fellow fans, I just decided to make my own variation of the series, re-write the whole enchilada from episode one to episode two hundred, and possibly add some stuff at the end to give the entire series some closure.

It was from this original though that 'Sailor Moon: Redeux' was born.

It should be noted, that this telling of the story will very GREATLY from the American anime series, and even from the Japanese. When a character is wounded, they will bleed, Sailor Moon will not be the Mary Sue that the anime made her out to be, and love might not always be the greatest weapon in the senshi's arsenal. While it might work every now and again, sometimes, the senshi are gonna have to put up their dukes and actually brawl it out.

Other changes will be made as well, some that I know most fans will LOVE, and some that they might not like so much. In any case, I ask that you PLEASE don't flame me, if you don't like what I'm doing, leave a comment telling me so, and leave it at that. On the other hand, if you DO like what I'm doing here, leave a comment, and maybe even include some suggestions if you like. I'm always open to fresh perspectives.

In any case, I hope you enjoy this story as much as I'm enjoying writing it! Thanks!

Pyro Darquarius

P.S. For Those of you who've noticed, this story has been re-posted due to an error I made when deleting another story of mine. I apologize for the inconvenience.

* * *

PROLOGUE: THE END OF THE BEGINNING

The majestic, white, marble floors of the moon kingdom's ballroom, usually spotless and shined to perfection, were filled with the shoes of the many pilgrims and diplomats that had turned up for this most glorious occasion. It was the celebration of the anniversary of the bloodiest event the Galaxy had ever witnessed in its lifetime: The Sailor Wars. It had been one thousand years since the First Sailor War had ended with no clear victor. Both Galactic Alliances had sustained severe casualties, many planets in each galaxy suddenly deprived of their guardians and protectors that were know as The Sailor Senshi. Of the societies that lost part or all of their Senshi, some learned to survive without them, some sought out hasty replacements, and others merely shriveled up and vanished. The First Sailor War had been a time of great tragedy, but on this day, the Galaxy celebrated it's thousandth year of peace.

Nearly every society in the Galaxy had ambassadors and representatives present. Brayden and Sylvania Hana from Planet Kinmoku, along with their daughter Kakyuu, represented the Republic of Dankei, while, also from Kinmoku, Marcus Lightskull and his son, Prince Ardrosen, represented the Vertekai Empire. Even the mighty and mysterious Senshi, known only as the Galactic Senshi, were in attendance for the first few days of the regalia. But the most impressive guests of all, were Prince Endymion, and his Shitennou. The Shitennou were known Galaxy wide, because their predecessors had stepped up into power when the Senshi of Earth, Sailor Gaia, had fallen in the sailor war. Earth had been a primary target in the war due to its outer laying location and extreme significance in most human-kind beliefs. Four soldiers, one from each of the four primary Earth kingdoms, took up arms and joined forces to combat the invading forces from outside the Galaxy. It was due to their valiant efforts and extremely powerful combat techniques, that Earth's population suffered only minimal casualties.

What made their presence all the more impressive, though, was that Earth detested the Moon Kingdom. It had been trying to conquer the kingdom in minor skirmishes and political warfare for decades now, each time, however, the kingdom's borders were protected from harm by the Moon Kingdom's most powerful weapon. Rumored to have been the very weapon that ended the Sailor War itself, The Ginzuishou. A small, translucent gemstone with a silverish hue. While apparently docile and un-extraordinary outside of its appearance, it possessed more power than the black hole which holds our delicate Galaxy in place. It was that very object that Earth sought to obtain. Prince Endymion and his Shitennou had pleaded time and time again with the Earth Kingdoms to lay down their arms and leave the Moon Kingdom in peace. It had taken years of effort, but finally, some light appeared at the end of tunnel, and King Utsutsemi, Endymion's father, had sent his son and the Shitennou to the Moon Kingdom's Ball, in order to announce the coming of peace. Earth had finally resigned their forceful position in the war.

While this was excellent news for both Earth and The Moon, none of their combined citizens, denizens, and subjects could have been more pleased than ten of them. Princess Selenity, Princess of The Moon Kingdom, and her Senshi of Sol, had, throughout the course of the conflicts and talks, fallen in love with Prince Endymion and his Shitennou. That was the Prince's secondary reason for coming on this particular night, he intended to plead with Queen Selenity, to let him have her daughter's hand in marriage.

The Shitennou, each one with an arm around his respective love interest, were all standing along the northern wall, blockading the general populace of the ball from the center most balcony, on which Princess Selenity and Prince Endymion stared out at the stars in deep space.

"Sooo? What do you think, Jadeite?" The Martian Princess asked the youngest of the Shitennou, who quickly tipped back his punch glass and sighed, staring at the glass's bottom for a moment.

"I think we should have brought something to spice up the punch a bit." He replied with a smirk. Beside him, Nephryte, with a very clingy Princess of Jupiter attached to his shoulder, lifted his own glass with a chuckle.

"Here, here." He replied.

"Speak for yourself, my younger, and less experienced, friend." Kunzite added with a cocky smirk, brandishing a silver flask from inside his jacket, opening the cap and depositing some of the clear liquid in the flask into his cup of punch before recapping it and returning it to its hiding place. The Venetian Princess who stood next to him merely smiled and shook her head. Zoicite had no response as he was a few yards away, dancing elegantly with the Mercurian Princess and earning himself the awe and undivided attention of several by standing spectators.

"No, I meant, what do you think of the kingdom? This IS your first time here, isn't it?" Jadeite's girlfriend asked him.

"It's absolutely lovely." Jadeite replied with a rogue smile as he moved his eyes into hers.

"Fine architecture, looks like no expense was spared." Kunzite noted, and impressed smile on his face. "I daresay this palace surpasses our own."

"The closets are especially spacious." Nephryte chimed in, grinning broadly. Jadeite cocked an eyebrow at him, and Kunzite, brows furrowed in confusion, slowly turned his head to glance at Nephryte as well, an odd sort of smile on his face. "What?" Nephryte asked.

"The closets are spacious?" Jadeite asked.

"I'm just saying that I have a lot of clothes, and the closets here are more than spacious enough to accommodate them." Nephryte replied, holding up his hands defensively. The two girls glanced at Jupiter with inquisitive looks, but she had her face buried too deeply into Nephryte's shoulder to notice.

The atmosphere was the same all across the room. Light hearted conversations transpired between people who'd never even met prior to this day, but the joy was not meant to last long. The festivities were suddenly interrupted by a loud, masculine voice that bellowed across the room.

"PRESENTING HER ROYAL HIGHNESS, QUEEN SELENITY!" Silence followed the announcement as the tall, slender, feminine figure, clad in a simple, yet elegant, sequin covered evening gown stepped into view on the interior balcony that overlooked the ballroom.

"My friends and comrades, this is the last day of our fantastic celebration, and let me be the first to thank you all for making this ball the spectacular event that it has been. That being said, please, continue the festivities." She bowed her head slightly in a gesture that was returned by everyone else in the room, followed by a thunderous round of applause for the hostess. Amid the applause, however, another sound resonated from beyond the massive entryway doors. All four Shitennou and all four Senshi present, stopped what they were doing immediately and looked at the doors.

"What the blazes was that?" Mercury asked as she and Zoicite moved over to the balcony.

"An explosion…" Kunzite's quiet reply carried a lot further than he'd intended it to in the silenced room, and some of the occupants began whispering amongst themselves in hushed voices. The Palace Guards in the room rushed up to the doors and mumbled orders back and forth to each other for a moment before preparing to leave the room. It was at that exact moment that another, much louder explosion sent the doors flying off their hinges, killing many of the room's occupants in the front of the room, the concussive force putting many others into prone or sitting positions on the floor. "SHITENNOU! TO ARMS!" Kunzite bellowed, his armor and weapons appearing on his body with a bright flash of golden light. The other Shitennou followed suit, as did the Senshi.

"Kunzite? What is this?!?!?" Endymion's voice came from behind him, a mixture of emotions, including confusion, anger, and fear, etched within its tones.

"Nothing we cannot handle, your highness, please, retreat to the balcony." Kunzite promptly responded. His facial expression, one of determination, quickly faded to a wide eyed look of shock as he observed the monstrosities that now flooded into the ball room in a horde, devouring and destroying anything in their path. "FAN OUT! COUNTER OFFENSIVE!" Kunzite commanded quickly, brandishing his enormous blade in preparation to defend himself. Still in their respective pairs, the Senshi and Shitennou charged forward in different directions, leaving Kunzite and Venus to guard the balcony. Queen Selenity quickly maneuvered herself behind them as well.

Jadeite's twin daggers slashed almost continuously in movement after movement, each slash taking down a youma which then disintegrated upon hitting the floor. Mars, right behind him, sent fireballs fists and kicks into the fray as they moved towards the north eastern corner of the room, hoping to flank the mob and pinch off the incoming flow. Going along with this strategy, Zoicite and Mercury took the Northwestern wall, while Nephryte's lance and Jupiter's thunder bolts carved a path clean up the center of the room. It had begun looking as though their plan would work, right up until Zoicite and Mercury reached the South West corner of the room. The youma had them pinned down in the corner and try as they may to get out, the horde was too overwhelming, and finally, a youma landed a punch into Zoicite's stomach.

"PYUNGH!!!!" Zoicite gasped for breath and doubled forward slightly, his eyes dropping to look at his stomach, then widening as the fist, still lodged into his gut, twisted a bit and seemed to melt, absorbing itself into his body. "N-no! NO! It… It isn't… possib… GYAAAAAAAAH!!!!!!" His tortured scream drew the attention of everyone in the room to him as the Youma completely merged into his body.

"ZOICITE!!!!!" Kunzite bellowed and lifted his massive blade over his head. "GRRRRAAAAAH!!!" With one downward stroke of his sword an energy arc shot into the mob that separated him from Zoicite obliterating any and all youma in it's path and stopping just before it reached the wounded Shitennou. The youma stopped attacking Mercury and Zoicite immediately and turned their gaze towards Kunzite and Venus. "Hmph… bring it on!" Kunzite picked up a stance.

"Zoicite? Zoicite?!?!?" Mercury went to the staggered Shitennou quickly.

"M-m-mercury…" He gasped out looking up into her eyes for a moment with a pleading gaze. Just then, however, his expression went ice cold, and blood spattered the wall behind her, as Zoicite plunged the blade of his short sword through her chest so deeply that the tip was now protruding from the back of her fuku. "Goodnight, fair Princess." Zoicite's cold voice said through the smirk that now crossed his face, as he stood up and turned towards Kunzite.

"ZOICITE YOU FOOL!!!!" Kunzite barked out in rage. His attention now turned to Nephryte, whose lance was having no trouble at all blazing a path through the mob towards the door. Jadeite was also having no issues as he and Mars battled it out with several dozen youma at a time.

"JUPITER!!!! CUT THEM OFF AT THE ENTRANCE!!!! WE NEED TO SECURE THIS ROOM!!!" Venus shouted, her voice cracking as the pain of Mercury's demise set in. They were all trained soldiers, losses were to be expected in any kind of battle, so she, being the most disciplined of the four girls, choked down her emotions and continued fighting, wielding her bright silver blade with deadly accuracy, and increasing amounts of rage.

"I'm on it! Let's go, Nephryte!" Jupiter commanded.

"Right." The chocolate haired Shitennou replied skewering a few more youma with his lance, he started to move ahead along with Jupiter, however, Zoicite barreled out in front of him, blocking a lance jab that had been intended for a youma with his buckler. "Zoicite? The hell are you doing?!?!?" Nephryte asked, spinning around to keep the youma from attacking his back. Zoicite's blade swung down wards and slashed open the back of Nephryte's uniform, drawing blood as well. "GYAAAAAH!!!!" Nephryte cried out and spun around. "You… you'll pay for that pretty boy…" He growled. "GO ON, JUPITER!" He yelled up to the green and white clad senshi. "I've got a personal matter to resolve." However, no sooner had he drawn back his lance to attack Zoicite, did Five youma tackle him to the ground, two of them melting into his body. "NO!!!! NOOOOO!!!!!!" He cried out and began seizing on the floor, his limbs and head shaking violently for a few moments. Finally, the youma ceased their attack on him as well, and he stood up, smiling heinously at Zoicite. "You're still going to pay for cutting my skin… but later… we have other business at hand." He smirked and cocked his head to the side slightly. The two of them turned to face Kunzite and grinned wickedly as they approached him.

"So this is how it's going to go…" Kunzite said through clenched teeth as his two former comrades drew their weapons against him. "Hold them off the balcony, Venus…" He said, stepping forward and wielding his massive blade defensively.

"You will either join us, or die, Kunzite. The Dark Queen has need of our services."

"I will answer to no Dark Queen." Kunzite growled back. "You're both traitors to the master…" Without another word, Kunzite launched his blade forward, spinning around and slashing at a downward angle. His blade was stopped by Zoicite's shield and the short sword stabbed upwards at his chest. Kunzite bent his upper body backwards and twisted it slightly to the left, simultaneously dodging both short sword and lance. In the same motion, his free hand grabbed one of the two katana blades from his belt and slashed at a perpendicular angel to his primary sword, the strike landing perfectly across Zoicite's chest and sending the artsy Shitennou sprawling to the ground, a rapidly growing puddle of blood beneath him. He sheathed the katana and again gripped his primary blade with both hands, as he and Nephryte began circling one another. Before he realized what was happening, Venus screamed.

"MARS!!! NOOOOO!!!!" Kunzite's eyes shot over to where Mars and Jadeite had been standing. Nephryte seized the opportunity and his lance's tip shot forward like a bullet, piercing Kunzite's right shoulder, at the same time, another sharp pain ripped through Kunzite's left leg.

"GRAAAAAHHH!!!" Kunzite fell to one knee as Nephryte withdrew his lance and stepped back a few feet, Jadeite stepping up next to him as Kunzite ripped the dagger from his leg. Jadeite's daggers were poison laced, Kunzite knew his time was short, and only one senshi remained… He had no choice but to kill his own brothers in arms, it was the only way to save the Prince, Princess, and Queen. His venomous gaze locked itself onto the two Shitennou who now grinned malevolently at him.

"Oh how the mighty has fallen." Jadeite mocked him. His mockeries were cut short though, as, in a single movement of his arm, Kunzite brandished a katana and flung it, the blade stabbing right through Jadeite's chest. The youngest member of the Shitennou slumped to the ground, killed instantly as the blade had severed his spine, the toxin on the blade shooting up the spinal cord straight into his brain. Only one remained. Kunzite's eyes fell on Nephryte who was now looking a bit concerned as Kunzite forced his legs to work, climbing back up to his feet.

"GRRRRRAAAAAAAAH!!!!" Both Shitennou spun around and swung their weapons at each other with all their might in a fight for supremacy. However, in his poisoned state, Kunzite's muscles were weakened and his massive blade's weight was too much to control, Nephryte easily knocked it from his grip, and continued his spin, drawing an arm back and stabbing his lance at Kunzite when he came back around again. Too late did he see that Kunzite had drawn his second katana and side stepped the lance jab, spinning around and slashing Nephryte's throat open with the blade. The last of the rogue Shitennou had been slain, and there was only a small handful of very nervous youma left in the room. Kunzite fell to his knees again, the poison's effects starting to kick in.

"What… is… this…?" He asked out loud, his chest heaving, both with the grief of having to kill his own comrades, and with the exhaustion of fighting off the venom from Jadeite's dagger. About that time, one last figure stepped into the room. A woman dressed in a black and purple gown with bright auburn hair and dark eyes. Kunzite recognized her immediately. "P-priestess Beryl? Y-y-you did this?"

"That's Queen Beryl, Kunzite… I am now the ruler of both Earth… and it's moon." She said, her cocky smirk looking up at Queen Selenity as she said the last part.

"But… Utsutsemi! What happened to the king?!?!?"

"He has resigned… in some form or another… He…" She never got to finish the sentence. Kunzite's rage overpowered the venom and he launched himself at her, his katana glowing with golden light as he channeled every last ounce of his power into it's blade.

"DIE!!!!" He roared, swinging it at her head. However, a bolt of black energy shot from Beryl's hand and struck him in the chest launching him backwards and slamming him into the marble wall so hard that the stone behind him cracked, an impact crater left as he fell to the ground with a dazed look on his face and blood spurting from his mouth.

"YOU WILL NEVER RULE THE MOON! VENUS CRESCENT BEAM SMASH!!!!!" Sailor Venus launched a golden beam of energy at Beryl, who countered with another bolt of dark energy that swallowed the crescent beam and blasted Venus hard, sending her sprawling to the floor as well.

"Now that the riff-raff is gone, Selenity, how about we get to the business of your unconditional surrender?" Beryl asked. Hey eyes went past Selenity to where Endymion was holding an extremely frightened princess in his arms. Before Selenity had time to react to the venomous look in Beryl's eyes, her hands shot forward, launching an ungodly barrage of energy at the Princess. "YOU MAN STEALING WENCH!!!!! DIE!!!!" Beryl roared.

"NO!!!" Endymion cried out, quickly shifting his position so that his back was to Beryl, and the Princess was hidden from her rage. The energy struck him in her place and his eyes widened for a moment, his jaw gaping wide open in an attempt to cry out from the pain, but it was over much too quickly and his dead body slumped to the ground. Selenity's face took on a rage-full expression and she reached up to the amulet around her neck, with a quick tug of her arm, the chain snapped and the amulet began glowing brightly within her fist.

"NOT THIS TIME!!!!" Beryl roared out sending her next attack at Selenity herself. The white light quickly grew brighter and brighter as Selenity opened her fist and extended her arm towards Beryl. The two energies met in the middle and exploded violently, destroying the room instantly, along with most of the palace. Selenity gasped as her daughter's, now dead, body slumped to the ground right alongside Endymion's.

"There's nothing left…" She whimpered slightly before turning her attention back to Beryl. "I'm going to seal you away for good this time… Metallia…" She growled. "NEVER again will you haunt this realm… BE GONE!!!!!!" The explosion of energy from the crystal in her hand, the Ginzuishou, was so immense, that the light was visible, even neighboring solar systems.

* * *

"God help us… we're too late…" A choked whisper came from the golden clad senshi as she and her two comrades stepped through the debris and ruins that had once been the illustrious Moon Kingdom. On her right, the senshi clad in blue, green, and white, with pale blue feathered wings, growled.

"Dammit… how could this happen, Galaxia?!?!?"

"I don't know, Coronis." The golden one replied. "Cocoon, please, tend to the Queen. Coronis, you are to return to Sagittarius, await Mau, Mermaid, and Chuu, tell them what has happened here and then all of you, go to your homes… I'm afraid the worst case scenario has come to pass."

"You mean… Chaos has…?" Coronis gasped out.

"I can think of no other way this could've happened. I must face him…"

"We'll help!" Coronis growled, clenching a fist.

"Alone." Galaxia replied, looking over at her friend. "He's far too powerful for you girls. I don't want to watch you die needlessly when you might be needed on other fronts."

"You think others will invade?"

"With the Ginzuishou out of commission, it's very likely." Galaxia replied. "Go now."

"Yes, ma'am." Coronis replied, kneeling down and fanning out her wings, with one flap of them, she vanished into the skies and shot towards the Galaxy's center with a streak of blue light.

"What shall I do with them, Galaxia?" Cocoon asked, motioning towards the butterflies.

"Contact Pluto. Send them to the future… hopefully… they'll find a life of peace…" Galaxia replied, her voice distraught.

"And the Ginzuishou?" Cocoon asked.

"Leave it… the princess will call it when the time has come." Galaxia answered again. Just then, the sound of crumbling debris from behind them drew both of their attention. They spun around to find a man and a woman, both badly wounded, staggering towards them.

"Artemis? Luna?" Galaxia asked.

"Galaxia! It was Metallia!" Luna cried out, tears streaming down her face. "Her youma swarmed us… we were…"

"Relax, both of you." Galaxia smiled at them, two golden beams of light covered the two wounded survivors, healing their wounds. "A plan has been set in motion. We will need you to assist the Princess when she awakens, can we count on you?"

"Absolutely." Artemis replied.

"Excellent." Galaxia replied, sighing and turning around, gazing up into space. "And so it begins…"


	2. Enter Jadeite

AUTHOR'S NOTE

I apologize to the fans for it taking so long to get this chapter up. Life comes at you fast and hard sometimes. Anyways, I tried to write this from Sailor Moon's standpoint at first. But I suck pretty bad at writing from the female perspective, so in the end I decided to write the main body from the Shitennou's stand point. Also, you'll notice some chronological changes as the story progresses. The senshi themselves will be about two years older at the start than they were in the previous versions, the reasoning behind this is because of some alterations I've made in sub-plots throughout that just wouldn't have made sense from a middle schooler's point of view. I apologize again if these changes irritate or upset any of you, I can promise you this much, though. the general plot and path the story will take shouldn't deviate too terribly much from that of the manga or anime.

In any case, hope you enjoy!

Pyro Darquarius

* * *

CHAPTER ONE: THE AWAKENING

_"Today's top story, the biggest news to hit Tokyo in several years, is the grand opening of Tennou Tower, the new home of Tennou Investors Inc."_ The reporter's voice droned on in the background. The man listening to the television's report, smirked at himself smugly in the bathroom mirror. He'd just finished showering and was now dressing himself in a three piece suit. The jet black slacks and double breasted jacket were as if they were composed of the same black marble blocks that made up the tower in which he was living. _"Standing at more than two hundred and fifty stories high, Tennou Tower is the first sky scraper to have been built inside Tokyo's city limits in more than ten years, and allegedly hosts computer systems, networking, and security systems all of which are state of the art. Initial figures reports coming from Keith Tennou, the eldest of the four brothers, state that the tower has cost them more than two hundred million dollars to construct."_ He lifted the collar of his shirt gingerly and expertly tied the goldenrod colored necktie in a double Winchester before flattening the white collar back down into position. The last step was to pull his long, silky, white hair back into low, tight pony tail. About that time a knock sounded off on his door.

"Enter." His smooth, yet intimidating voice barked out loud enough for whoever was on the other side of the door to hear him. Another man stepped into the room, dressed in a similar suit, the only difference being that his necktie was emerald green. This man's hair was as a long, wavy, stream of chocolate were melting down his back. His blue eyes twinkling in the dim light, and the smirk on his face denoted his frequently amused attitude.

"Beryl has ordered a last minute meeting before the ceremony, apparently Jadeite is finally ready to announce his plans." The man said, his smirk continuing.

"Hmph." The first man cut a short piece of a chuckle and turned to the second. "Very well, Nephryte, inform her highness that I will be there shortly."

"As you command, Kunzite." Nephryte bowed slightly, then righted himself and turned around walking back out of the room and closing the door behind him, leaving Kunzite to finish his preparations.

* * *

"My Shitennou." Beryl's voice rang across the massive and empty room that was the tower's very top floor. "I have been quite pleased with your performance up to this point, our plans to revive Metallia have gone incredibly smoothly." Her perfectly smooth skinned face crinkled slightly at the corners of her mouth as she smiled warmly at the four men who now stood in front of her. Her dress was the same as it had been on the night she assailed the Moon Kingdom, yet it appeared as though it were brand new. In addition to Kunzite and Nephryte, Jadeite and Zoicite now stood in front of her as well. Both of them wore jet black double breasted suits as well, the only differences again in the neck ties: Red and Blue. "It seems, today, that young Jadeite is finally ready to announce his plan of action."

"Yes, Queen Beryl." Jadeite stepped forward and lifted his right fist, placing against his chest over his heart in a salute. "Utilizing all ten of the youma that you have so graciously assigned to me, I have already possessed ten of the pathetic human beings, strategically placed in various facets of Tokyo's corporate community. I've studied these people and determined the highest methods in which they spend their energy to be shopping, praying, dreaming, and going on various trips for recreational purposes. Then there's petty emotions as well, love and excitement both seem to exert the maximum amount of energy, I have strategically placed my youma in most effective positions to take complete advantage of these living batteries, and I anticipate results as soon as one week from today."

"Is that so?" Beryl asked, her grin growing even wider. "Very presumptuous to act on this plan without first getting my approval, Jadeite."

"I am supremely confident that expediting this plan will produce the finest energy offering Metallia will have received in her existence." Jadeite responded, bowing.

"Indeed." Beryl's smirk widened a bit. "Well then, is there anything else?"

"The mayor is waiting downstairs for the ceremony to begin, Queen Beryl." Zoicite chimed in. "It is my humble suggestion that we cut this meeting short so as not to draw any more undesirable attention to ourselves." He glared at Kunzite.

"I couldn't agree more, Zoicite, tell me again, Kunzite, why we're exposing ourselves to the general public?" She asked.

"Beryl…" Kunzite chuckled.

"QUEEN Beryl." she corrected him, her eyes widening in rage.

"Queen… Beryl…" Kunzite corrected himself, smirking at the angered red head. "By building this tower, not only have I secured Metallia an extremely efficient backup battery of energy, utilizing the three hundred employees and draining their energy little by little each day, I have also guaranteed that our internal workings will be shielded from full view of the public…"

"The population of this planet seems to be very nosy, Public figures, such as these Tennou brothers that we've now made ourselves out to be, do not get any privacy. It won't be long before people begin asking what's on the top fifty floors of this tower, Kunzite, what do we tell them then?" Zoicite asked.

"We tell them nothing, instead, we show them personally." The white haired Shitennou smirked at Zoicite and cocked his head a little bit. "No plan of action we can manifest will go without risk, but by hiding ourselves in plain sight, we will mask our true intentions with whatever scandals the media would like to pin on us. Consider it a sleight-of-hand maneuver…"

"Sleight-of-hand? Explain yourself, Kunzite." Beryl furrowed her brow, trying to understand his reasoning. Kunzite smiled and began watching his right hand, fluttering its fingers in elegant circles in the air, drawing everyone's attention to it as his other hand slowly moved behind his back.

"Sleight-of-hand… you let your right hand get caught doing something… HYAH!!!!" He flung his katana blade from behind his back, the blade embedding itself into the ground just a few inches from Beryl's feet, the handle wobbling back and forth in the air from the momentum of the impact. Beryl had jumped backwards, her hands now arcing energy from them as Kunzite smiled at her with contempt in his eyes. "…so that no one sees what your left hand is doing."

"If that had hit me…" Beryl growled at him breathlessly.

"…it would have been because I'd intended it to. And now, QUEEN Beryl," Kunzite bowed submissively, his voice enunciating the word 'queen'. "We have a public appearance to make. Jason, Nathaniel, Zane, let's go." He said, turning and walking out of the room. The other three Shitennou looked back and forth at each other for a moment before saluting Beryl, then turning and running to catch up with Kunzite's brisk walk. They exited the room and started down in the elevator.

"Kunzite, why do you despise her so much? She has been more than…"

"That's not your business, now is it, Jadeite?" Kunzite cut him off with a glare. "And what did we say? No talk about it outside of our personal chambers and the throne room."

"But…"

"I said SILENCE!!!!" Kunzite's arm shot out to grab his collar, but found itself hitting Nephryte's chest instead. "You have something to say?" he growled at Nephryte.

"Jadeite has to speak publicly in less than five minutes, it might raise a few eyebrows if he goes out there with a black eye, don't you think?" Nephryte asked. Kunzite growled, but turned to face elevator door silently, as Nephryte turned to Jadeite who did likewise. Nephryte's hand shot upwards sharply smacking Jadeite in the back of the head roughly.

"OW!!!" Jadeite cried out, reaching back over his shoulders. "What was THAT for?!?!?"

"Stop instigating." Nephryte answered simply. "Now, we're going to smile, we're going to make believe that we're just as powerless and pathetic as these flea bags we're going to cater to, and then, once the work day is over, we'll go back to our planet conquering, sound good?" Nephryte asked.

"Whatever." Kunzite growled as the doors to the elevator open and he stepped out, moving towards the front door. Nephryte followed, only a step behind, Zoicite came next, and Jadeite, thinking it best to keep some distance between himself and Kunzite for a while, tagged along behind.

Finally, an explosion of camera flashes and inaudible questions being shouted went off as Keith, Nathaniel, Zane, and Jason Tennou stepped out of the building and lined up, each of them taking a wireless microphone from the podium off to one side and then sitting down in their respective chairs, all of them except for Jason, who stood behind the podium.

"Please, hold all questions until the ceremony has ended." He said, holding a hand up and motioning for silence. "I'd like to welcome all of you here, to the realization of our life long dream, Tennou Tower!" He motioned towards the building behind him flashing a big smile to the cameras. "Our goal here is to promote the growth of Japanese economic endeavors of all shapes and sizes, and while we're at it, take another chunk out of the unemployment line too. Tennou Tower will be the hub for all imports and exports in Japan. As such, you'll notice, once the public tour begins in just under an hour or so, that only state of the art technologies have been incorporated into its structure. It's been a very long and painstaking road to get all of the bugs and glitches out of the system, but we're finally convinced that we've gotten enough out for it to be safe for the general public." He joked, flashing another grin. The joke was met with a chorus of laughter from the reporters on site. "But before we begin the tour, why don't we get the mayor up here and pop the cork on this party, eh?" He asked. The mayor stepped up to the cement platform that marked the tower's entrance and was greeted by the four Tennou brothers, shaking all of their hands as they held a giant pair of golden scissors. Two of them holding onto either loop, and the mayor taking a grip on the top loop, another barrage of camera flashes went off as the scissors neatly clipped the red ribbon that had blockaded the general public from entering the tower. A cheer rose from the crowd as the severed ends of the ribbon fell to the ground.

However, human eyes weren't the only ones watching this event. A black cat sat off to one side of the stage, hidden underneath one of the shrubs that outlined the cement platform. It was this cat's eyes, turning their attention to Keith, and suddenly he began looking around, as if trying to find something. Giving up after a moment, he casually turned his head to Nathaniel and started to say something, when his eyes shifted to the right slightly, and spotted the feline.

"Well, well, well, ladies and gentlemen." Keith interrupted the proceedings. "It would seem that our new tower has drawn not only the attention of our fellow humans, but other species as well." He walked over to the shrub with a quickened pace. Before the cat had time to react, Keith had picked it up by the scruff of its neck and pulled it up to his shoulder as if adjusting its position. While he had the microphone away from his mouth, he muttered softly under his breath. "Make a fool out of me, and I will snap your neck." The cat stiffened up for a moment, but played along, allowing him to cradle it in his arms and tousle its head gently, moving the microphone back up to his mouth. "Oh my… this loveable little cat seems to have a wound of some sort. Jason, you wouldn't happen to have a bandage on you, would you?"

"Ummm… I think so… ah, here, self adhesive." Jadeite handed a small paper strip to Kunzite, who smirked a bit as he opened it and placed it securely over the cat's crescent bald spot.

"There we go, now then, Mr. Mayor, if you would be so kind as to escort this cute little fur ball to the animal adoption center… make sure her shots are up to date and she's spayed, we will be more than happy to cover the cost."

"Outstanding! Right away, Mr. Tennou… OUCH!!!!" As soon as the Mayor had taken the cat, it scratched at him and then took off running away from the facility like a bat out of hell. The ceremony proceeded as planned, and was a smashing success.

* * *

"Kunzite, what was that stunt with the cat earlier?" Nephryte asked, later that evening, after business hours had ended and the employees and media had finally given up for the day. Three of the four Shitennou now sat in their private lounge. Nephryte was comfortably sprawled out on the black leather sofa, Kunzite was off in his little corner, pushing and pulling on the weight machine, and Zoicite was off in his, an easel in front of him, a palette in one hand, and a brush in the other as he gently stroked the thick pigment onto what had once been a perfectly bleach white canvas.

"You mean… ungh… you didn't… ungh… recognize her?" Kunzite asked, answering without even slowing down his bench press repetitions.

"Not really, should I have? I mean, heh, to my knowledge we've never owned a pet." Nephryte replied with a shrug, taking a sip from the brown liquid in his glass.

"You don't ever remember seeing…" Kunzite paused, returning the weight bar to it's cradles before sitting up and toweling off his face. "…a black cat with a golden crescent scar on it's forehead?"

"Hmmm…" Nephryte looked thoughtful.

"He means Luna." Zoicite sighed, his eyes still scanning his artwork. "Advisor to the extremely late Queen Selenity? Ring any bells in that belfry of yours? Or is still as silent and empty as usual?" Zoicite's smirk made itself evident in his voice.

"You know what, pretty boy? One of these days… SMACK!" Nephryte replied, tightening his jaw and pointing at the artist.

"Um, what's the expression…?" Zoicite paused and looked thoughtful. "I think it goes something like… bring a ladder and pack a lunch?"

"ENOUGH! Both of you, knock it off… If Luna is sniffing around here now, it must mean that the Princess is nearby. And rest assured, her body guards will NOT be far away either." Kunzite growled, stepping across the room before chugging the remainder of the contents in his water bottle. About that time, Jadeite poked his head into the room wearing a sweat suit and an ID badge.

"I'll be out of the office for about a week, I have a few more plans to enact…"

"Jadeite, you may start meeting some resistance soon." Kunzite interrupted him in a gruff voice. "Watch your back."

"Who are you kidding, Kunzite? There's no one on this rock capable of it." Jadeite laughed and shook his head closing the door.

"What an idiot. You know, I kinda feel sorry for him, cause I can already see Beryl's foot going clean up his ass crack, and the poor fool doesn't even realize how much of a fuck up he is!"

"And you're any better?" Kunzite laughed at Nephryte. "Where've you been spending your nights these past few weeks, Nathaniel? And if I might inquire, with whom?"

"I don't believe that's any of your business, is it Kunzite." Nephryte replied with a sigh. "You may be my commanding officer, but you're certainly not my father, so how about you go pop a few more pills, do some more reps, beat your meat to whatever sick fetish video get's you going, and get off my ass."

"Zoicite?" Kunzite looked over at him.

"Don't pull me into this." Zoicite chuckled back.

"Heh…" Kunzite popped his neck and headed for the door. "It's almost like they WANT me to kill them again." He growled to himself as he left.

* * *

Meanwhile, it was midnight in Tokyo. At the JAM Recording Studio and Radio Station, everything seemed okay from the outside. But inside studio 6-B, where a normally drab and dull late night talk show took place, the entire staff was laying unconscious. All except for one woman, dressed in a business suit, her flame red hair pulled into a tight and neatly done bun, who was staring into the sound room itself. An alluring male voice penetrated the radio waves all across the illustrious city.

"Ladies and Gentlemen, I'm sad to say that Mr. Rockwell's show has been cancelled, however, I am very happy to introduce you to the new show that will be replacing him, it's Midnight in Tokyo, and you're listening to Midnight Zero, I'm your host Jay Daito, and tonight, I'll be bringing you your favorite love song classics from the old and gold, to the new and bold. Further more, those loyal listeners out there who have a secret love that they'd like to confess to, send us a letter addressed to them, and we'll read it on the air along with playing the song of your choice. A special prize will be sent, same day delivery, to the lucky ladies who get their letters read on the air. But for now, just sit back, relax, and enjoy the show, I know I will."


End file.
